No headphone jack: dealbreaker or no big deal?

Phones are increasingly arriving without headphone jacks. Is the future unfriendly to music listeners?

The headphone jack — or lack thereof — has become a point of contention for many people since Motorola removed it from its flagship Moto Z in mid-2016. The conversation got even louder when Apple did the same later in the year, and now we have devices like the HTC U11, arguably one of the best phones of the year, and the Moto Z2 Force, that maintain the trend.

While there are plenty of avenues to overcome the lack of a headphone jack — Bluetooth headphones, USB-C headphones, or an adapter that brings back the 3.5mm jack, many people prefer to seek out devices that just keep things simple and seek out a phone with the port built in. It helps that the most popular Android phone this year, the Galaxy S8, has kept the jack despite supporting next-gen wireless technologies like Bluetooth 5 that promise to increase sound quality, but the writing does appear to be on the wall: the 3.5mm headphone jack is not long for this world.

In our forums, dpham00 wondered the same thing, noting the port's absence on the new Moto Z2 Force:

dpham00

07-25-2017 03:31 PM

“

There's no 3.5mm headphone jack like the z force droid, will this be a deal breaker for you? Personally, I haven't used 3.5mm headphones in years so it doesn't bother me, but i can see it as a downer for those that do. There is an usb c to headphone jack in the box but that seems very easy to lose, IMO.

Reply

The responses are fairly uniform, including this one from shadowsjc:

shadowsjc

07-25-2017 04:41 PM

“

Deal breaker for me. I have a Motorola g4 plus and have been tracking the z2 force eagerly for some time. I can't believe they reduced the battery and took off the headphone jack. I use Bluetooth headphones during my work commute, but sometimes its not practical to fire up the headset (like if I want to listen to something at work, I want the option to plug in my earbuds without some stupid...

Reply

Others, like PowrDroid, just require an adapter to be in the box, and he's good to go:

PowrDroid

07-27-2017 11:14 AM

“

If it comes with the adapter, not a deal breaker. But it's an unnecessary hassle to need an adapter. Just another detraction from this phone.

Reply

What do you think? Is the lack of a headphone jack a dealbreaker for you when deciding on a new phone, or is it no big deal?

Join the conversation in the forums!